Please Help! 28 weeks scan shows very short limbes

[Paris19]

I've done a scan last week and I am currently 29 weeks pregnant. I was told that the baby's arms and femur are below 3rd centile. I did the amniocentesis on the same day and so far got the result for Down's Syndrome which was negative. I am now waiting for the second sets of result to find out any genetic abnormality. I am so scared, please, please let me know if anyone has had the same experience.

My youngest was like this- with large abdomen and head and v short legs. She is now over 1 and on 2nd centile- with v short legs, but absolutely perfect. TBH she takes after her dad, short legs and sticky. Try not to worry too much.

I was told by a consultant that my 3rd child would be disabled, she is short, but in similar proportions to her dad

I was same. Femurs below 5th percentile and apparntly wernt growing. Had steroids at 33 weeks and luckily they let her hang in there. Booked in for section at exactly 37 weeks, home next morn. She’s still dinky. 9 months and under 5th percentile, but medically absolutely fine x

Thank you for your response. I am 5'6 and my hubby is 6'2, we have no short siblings which make us even more worry.

My DD’s femurs were 7th centile at our 20-week scan and I worried myself sick as everything else was between 50th and 75th. They rescanned me and eventually were able to get the measurement to the 17th centile, which shows you how the slightest difference in how they take the measurements can yield such different results. DD is fast approaching 2 years old and is 9th centile for length, she’s just a fairly petite child but perfectly healthy. I’m 5’4” and DH is 6’.

It’s no use telling you not to worry because you will regardless, but hopefully everything will be completely fine for you and your baby

I’m 5’6’’ and DH is 6’2’’ and my DS is 9th centile for height. I hope everyone turns out to be ok

Hello - DD was flagged as having very short limbs on her scans. She is now 4 and just short, but not unusually so.

Do you know how good the hospitals sonographers/obstetricians are and how good the hospital is. A very close friend was told she had Polyhyramnious (v serious). This was at a smallish local hospital. She was referred to a fetal medicine specialist at a b good university hospital - was scanned there. Absolutely nothing wrong. Total mistake, she was told a combination of human error/lack of experience and poor scanning equipment. Apparently the scanners at some hospitals are not up to scratch. Please definitely get a second opinion.

@Mrsgogginsthe3rd I am pretty much sure that the scan is accurate as it was done by fetal medicine specialist and also did another scan privately at Harley Street.

Aww OP I hope all is ok, have they said how long the other results will take? I know exactly how you are feeling, there was something found on a scan in my pregnancy 3 years ago and the days waiting for results were absolute torture. Every minute felt like days. As hard as it is please try not to worry until they give you reason to.

In regards to scans, a lot of measurements can be wrong. My pregnancy above with the amino unfortunately didn’t have a happy ending (completely different findings on scan than yours) but in my pregnancy two years ago they said my baby measured too big and made me go for gestational diabetes tests. Came back normal and my baby came out 6lb 5 so tiny!! Was completely wrong, and a lot of people I have spoken to have said the same has happened to them, whether baby too big or too small etc. Please try to holding onto the fact I and others are telling you that these scans can be and quite often are worrying for no reason.

There is a charity called ARC (antenatal tests and choices) they have a wonderful helpline for women waiting for test results and they really did help me in the dark days waiting for results and afterwards in my case. Please give them a call, they will listen to you and help you x

I'm not sure how accurate these things are. I had a 30 week scan and was told it looked like he would not weigh any more than 5lbs at birth, came out 7lb2 oz.

If they are all measuring short, and they have checked fingers and toes, then the chances are you just have a small child who has relatively small limbs.

My dd had her missing hand spotted at the 20 week scan. It was immediately obvious it only effected that limb.

My DC3 had this . Every scan they informed me he had a short femur.

He was born and was and is perfectly aligned . 18 now and around 5ft 9

I know it's hard but try not to worry. Sometimes scans show things that aren't right. I was induced because my baby was apparently so big, turns out this was wrong and he is so tiny he needs growth hormone. If your baby has got very short limbs then they might have some kind of dwarfism. Contact the Child Growth Foundation - they have a group on FB (child growth foundation - cgf) full of parents who will have had similar experiences in pregnancy and hopefully their stories will help you and you can see the lovely children their babies grew into! Good luck x

Yes! I was told my son had short arms. I had him and he looked like any other baby (much cuter, in my own judgement), he is 2yo. Now I had baby #2 and I can see #1 has indeed shorter arms in comparison, and it’s so cute- let me tell you, I wish #2 would stretch his chubby arms the same way. #1’s arms never reached the top of his head! He is a normal young kid, his arms reach his waist, it’s cool they different

What was the outcome @Paris19. At 37 weeks the femur length of my baby is not even on the graph . Everything else within normal ranges. Midwife says not to be worried as it’s not a length they look at

This happened to a friend of mine. At her 28 week scan she was told that her son's limbs were short and he would be disabled. A week later she went back for a second scan and very confused doctors informed her that they couldn't see a problem and her son's arms and legs were fine. He is six years old now and tall for his age.

Dd's scan showed huge head and abdomen but tiny femurs. She's now 5 years old, 98th percentile head circumference but 1st percentile for height. She's tiny for her age but looks in proportion, and is super smart and perfectly healthy.